buffington



Jan. 26, 1960 P. M. BUFFINGTON 2,922,426

SUPPORT AND ANCHORAGE FOR HEADGEAR Filed June 9. 1958 INVENTOR. PRUDE/YCE M. BUFF/NGTON ATTORNEY United States Patent 0.

This invention relates to a support and anchorage for womens headgear, such as hats, tiaras, crowns, and other head decorations as they are worn.

In headgear worn by women, it is desirable that the means of anchorage to the head shall hold the hat or other decoration firmly in place and be comfortable to the wearer. Heretofore, the anchorage means has comprised such devices as long hat pins, where the coiffure was such that these pins could be pushed through both the headgear and more or less knotted portions of the hair, ribbons aifixed to the headgear and tied into bows under the chin, and helmet-like frameworks to fit snugly and sometimes tightly about the head. Generally, each of these devices is suitable only for a given type of headgear and in many instances their use is attended with considerable discomfort on the part of the wearer. Very definitely, these fastening or anchoring means in most cases constitute an appurtenance to the headgear that must be tolerated, but in little if any sense is a part of the decorative design elements of the headgear.

It is an object of this invention to provide an anchorage support for womens headgear which can be worn without the discomfort which attends the aforesaid prior supporting and anchorage devices and that does away with hat pins, bows under the chin, helmet-like fitting arrangements and other appurtenances which contribute but little if anything to the decorative features of the headgear.

Another object of the invention is to provide anchorage means which serves as a support for a variety of decorative shapes and designs, including those that may be unwieldy and top-heavy.

Another object is to provide anchorage means which may constitute part of the decorative design and not just an appurtenance thereto that must be tolerated for the sake of anchorage of theheadgear.

A further object is to provide an anchorage support for the headgear which constitutes an earring hat or earring tiara and which obviates the necessity for separate earrings with their accompanying clamps or screws.

A still further object is to provide an earring hat or earring tiara which can be made to conform to the hair coiifure, or in other words, that can be formed or sculptured to enhance the coiffure, rather than one that covers up the coiffure and hides it.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings and is described in detail hereinafter. The particular constructions herein shown and described are to be construed as illustrative only, and not as limiting the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows in perspective the basic framework structure of my device in position on the head of the wearer, one anchorage support of the device being at the left ear (said ear not shown).

2,922,426 Patented Jan. 26, 1960 Fig. 2 shows in perspective the device in somewhat modified form and also worn adjacent the left ear of the wearer. v

Fig. 3 shows a form of the device as worn adjacent the right-hand ear of the wearer.

Fig. 4 shows in perspective one form of anchoring means to be used at one of the terminals of my device.

Referring to the drawings, the head-piece or stem member 10, adapted to conform to the curvature of the skull when positioned across the top of the head, is secured at one end to, and therefore stems from, a C-shaped earpiece 11 adapted to be positioned around and to fit along the back of one ear at the juncture of said ear to the head, with the terminals thereof hooking over the top and bottom, respectively, of the car at the head juncture. The point at which the stem end of member 10 is secured to said ear-piece 11 is preferable at the back of the C at about its mid-point although it may be at any point intermediate the terminal hooks of the said earpiece. The length of the head-piece 16 is desirably such that when the ear-piece 11 is in place about the ear, the head-piece will extend over the crown or top of the head to any desired point on the opposite side of the though not necessarily, the anchoring means 12 is secured I by any suitable means to the end of the head-piece 10. For example, when the head-piece member and the said anchoring means are of metal, they may be secured together by soldering or other appropriate metallurgical bonding and when both are of plastic material, they may be cast or molded in one piece. The said comb or other anchoring means may be secured to the head-piece 10 by thread sewed into wrapping material that may, if desired, be wound about the member 10 or a suitable glue may be employed in lieu of thread.

The anchoring means 12 need not be fixedly secured to the head-piece 10 but may be separate therefrom with provision for detachably securing the said head-piece member thereto. In Fig. 4 there is illustrated one such arrangement. A comb 12, adapted to be inserted in the hair and held therein and thereto, is provided with a hook 13 secured to its upper side and adapted to receive and hold the said head-piece member 10, the said comb being appropriately positioned in the hair so that the member 10 may be moved laterally for engagement by said hook. Preferably, the opening into said hook is of such size that slight frictional resistance is offered to'the head-piece member 10 as the latter is moved into engagement by said hook. Any suitable clamping or fastening means may be employed in lieu of said hook and/or said comb and said hook. If desired, the inner face of the terminal of said hook may be provided with a small knob-like projection (not shown) for increasing such frictional resistance and for retaining the said member 10 when the latter is held in engagement by said hook.

It is desirable that the head-piece member it be of a material sufiiciently pliable that it may be bent to conform to the contour or curvature of the head and sufficiently resilient that when in position on and anchored to the head, it will resist deformation by the ordinary forces exerted by conventional headgear attached thereto. I have found steel spring wire of size from #20 to #26 Band S guage satisfactory for this use. The ear-piece member 11 is likewise of material similarly pliable and resilient whereby it may be shaped for positioning around the back of the ear at the head-juncture.

asaa ae The head-piece member may, if desired, be provided with branch or auxiliary members 14 in any appropriate number, the said branch members being secured to the main head-piece member by soldering, molding (when plastic) or other suitable means. These branch or auxiliary members may be relatively short in length as shown in Fig. 1 and may therefore not require individual anchorage means; or they may be of greater length such as member 15 shown in Fig. 2 with its own individual anchoring means 15; the auxiliary head-piece members may branch from any appropriate points along the main head-piece member; or one or more of them may be anchored directly to the ear-piece member 11.

The head-piece members 10, with branches 14 and 15 of my device serve as supporting structures individually or collectively as desired, to which may be secured various forms of headgear, either decorative in character, utilitarian or both, as desired. As an illustrative example of this feature of my device, there are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 different decorative elements 15", 16, and 17 (Fig. 3) and 17, 18 and 19 (Fig. 2) each secured to some one of the supporting structures 10 (main headpiece member) or 14 and 15 (auxiliary head-piece members). Decorative element 20 (Fig. 2) is attached to earpiece member 11 near the lower hook portion of the C- shaped ear-piece and thereby serves to give the appearance of an earring ornamentation, thus obviating the necessity of a separate earring. If desired, appropriate decorative elements may be attached to the head-piece member 1% or to the ear-piece member 11, or to both, in a manner whereby the ear is hidden. Decorative element 21 (Fig. 3) is an illustrative example of this feature of my device.

The decorative elements illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 are individual elements, each attached to an individual supporting head-piece (or auxiliary head-piece) member. When desired, larger decorative elements, more complex in nature (not shown in the drawings), may be employed wherein such element may, if desired, be attached to both a head-piece member 10 and an appropriately adjacent auxiliary member 14 and/ or 15 whereby said headpiece members and auxiliary head-piece members serve collectively as the supporting structure for said decorative element, which decorative element may be a hat-piece, crown, tiara, and the like.

The supporting head-piece member 10 and the various auxiliary supporting head-piece members may, if desired, be covered with a wrapping material of appropriate color and texture so that they harmonize with the coifiure and the various ornamental elements that are secured thereto. They may be bent or otherwise formed and sculptured into various shapes while at the same time preserving their structural supporting characteristic, thereby serving to enhance the coifiure as Well as to support and anchor the headgear that may be Worn.

While I have shown preferred forms of my invention, 1

it is to be understood that various changes can be made in its construction by those skilled in the art without 4 departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hair ornament and tiara, comprising a primary head-piece member, said head-piece member being pliable, resilient and wire-like, and curved to fit.the contour of the head from a point adjacent the back of one ear, to a point on the upper part ofthe head, a C-shaped ear-piece member curved to engage said car at its juncture with the head, the terminals of said ear-piece member hooking, respectively, over the top and bottom of said ear, one end of said head-piece member being secured to said earpiece member at a point intermediate said terminals of said ear-piece member, means for anchoring the opposite end of said head-piece member in the hair of the wearer and a hair-decorative element secured to said member.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 with the addition of an auxiliary head-piece member branching from and extending at an angle to said primary head-piece member and with its terminal free, s aiId auxiliary head-piece mem her being of pliable and resilient material and wire-like whereby it may be curved to fit the contour of the head along a path extending from the point where said auxiliary headpiece branches from said primary head-piece to the free terminal of said auxiliary head-piece and a hairdecorative element Securedto said auxiliary head-piece member. i

3. The apparatus of claim 2 with the addition of means for anchoring to the'hair of the wearer the free terminal of said auxiliary head-piece member.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said anchoring means comprises a comb secured to said opposite end of said head-piece member, said comb being adapted to be inserted into and held by the hair of the wearer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said anchoring means comprises means detached from said head-piece member and adapted to be inserted into and held by the hair of the wearer, together with fastening means for detachably connecting the said opposite end of said headpiece member to said detached means when said detached means is inserted into and held by the hair of the wearer.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said anchoring means comprises means detached from said auxiliary head-piece member and adapted to be inserted into and held by the hair of the wearer, together with fastening means for detachably connecting the free terminal of said auxiliary head-piece member to said detached means when said detached means isinserted into and held by the hair of the wearer.

References Cited in'the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 22,389 Griffith Sept. 30, 1897 953,159 Tuttle Mar. 29, 1910 1,535,309 Hillebl'and Apr. 28, 1925 2,555,494 Kriegel June 5, 1951 as. t 

